Communication Arts Scholarship Recipients Say Thank You

In a recent initiative by FIU’s College of Architecture + The Arts, Communication Arts students Nicole Alvarez and Sarah Hernandez were given the opportunity to express gratitude to the donors who made their scholarships possible.

Alvarez received the Kathleen Watson Memorial Scholarship, open to Communication Arts majors who have high grade point averages and who perform well in the class, Business and Professional Communication, which was taught for many years by the late Kathleen Watson. The scholarship in Watson’s name was funded by her family and friends and it was intended to help students like Alvarez continue to excel.

Offered the opportunity to send a message to the donors, Alvarez took it. “What I would like to say to the donors, first and foremost, is ‘thank you.’ I think it is such a great thing that they do for students. Not only are they helping us students move on in our academic careers, they are helping to make dreams come true. I am eternally grateful for the donors. I hope to one day be able to provide for students the way they do. Having a scholarship isn’t about winning something, to me; having a scholarship mean opportunity. Without my scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to carry out my academic career to the extent that I have. Thanks to my scholarship, I will be the first in my family to graduate [college].”

Hernandez also expressed her gratitude: “I would like to thank the donors of the Gus Amaya Scholarship Foundation from the bottom of my heart for recognizing the many things that students of the Communication Arts major have to offer and bestowing upon me this honorable award. I have learned a great deal and made many valuable relationships during my time at FIU. I know that I can use the skills that I honed in on during my college experience beyond graduation and receiving this scholarship means that my hard work did not go unnoticed.”

Hernandez was awarded the Gus Amaya Memorial Scholarship, which was created to honor long-time adjunct faculty member, Gus Amaya, who taught public speaking. The scholarship is awarded to deserving Communication Arts majors each semester who have at least a 3.0 overall GPA, and are members of the department’s Honor Society, Lambda Pi Eta.